Chicago artist's hoop dream comes true with his own Air Jordans

CHICAGO -- Hebru Brantley's first pair of Air Jordans were stolen off his feet.

"I was on 34th and I want to say Prairie, over there around Douglas school," Brantley said. "Kid came and knocked me in my head. I just saw stars and my feet felt cold and he was gone down the block."

Brantley was around 10 or 11 at the time, he said, and he thinks he was wearing the fours or the fives. He had to walk home sullen and shoeless.

"Me and my cousin both," the Chicago artist said.

Now Brantley is 34, a painter and a graffiti artist who sells his "pop-infused contemporary art" to the likes of Jay-Z, LeBron James and George Lucas. And now he has his own Jordans, ones nobody can take from him.

His name is on the tongue and his graffiti-style art is on the shoe, the "Hebru Brantley x Jordan Melo M11."

"Not to sound corny," Brantley said during a conversation at his Pilsen studio recently, "but it is a bit of a dream come true in the sense that I grew up in the Jordan era, and especially in that culture that was created with the streetwear and the shoes. Being here for all six titles and having that sort of weighted sense of importance to have Jordans, to rock Jordans socially to be in line with the culture, is huge. So to be able to add my name to that list and that conversation is a great thing. Again, to have a non-athlete with his own shoe is pretty damn awesome."

Brantley grew up on the South Side and went to De La Salle High School before getting a BA in film at Clark Atlanta University. His late father Terry Brantley played football at Northwestern and his late mother Pamela Glover worked at Johnson Publishing.

He is 6-foot-8 -- "The same as LeBron," he said -- and like cartoonist Chris Ware, he has become a go-to Chicago artist with his comic book-inspired socially conscious work.

Brantley had worked with Nike on local events before, including a mural outside its running store in Bucktown.

"Melo is a collector of my work so when it came time to have a discussion about doing something different with the shoe, my name was thrown out," Brantley said. "Melo was like 'S---, I know Hebru's work as well, so that might be a good fit.' That's kind of how everything played out."

The shoe's line-drawing design glows in the dark and it's wearable, not too arty. A certain kind of simplicity was key for Brantley, who didn't get much direction from the Jordan Brand group, though Michael did have to approve them.

"It's kind of a scary thing, 'I can go all the way over here, I can go over there,'" he said. "But you want to make something that is aesthetically pleasing so that it does get bought. I didn't want to go so crazy that I'd say I never wear that s---."

The shoes, which also have a translucent sole that reveals more art on the bottom, were a Chicago exclusive and went on sale Oct. 24 at the new Jordan Brand store on South State Street. A visit the next week found a few pairs still in stock, but only at size 14. The complementary T-shirts and hats sold out immediately, said Brantley, who was at the store's opening.

"[Carmelo] loved it," Brantley said. "I think everybody loved it. What I do think is they didn't anticipate selling as good as it did. I preferred it being an exclusive Chicago launch because we rarely, in that sort of world or sneaker culture, Chicago rarely gets any exclusives."

He also made two sculptures and a large painting for the Jordan store. The paining is of Jordan in his Bulls uniform wearing the goggles of Brantley's popular Flyboy character, his signature superhero character inspired by the Tuskegee Airmen. The sculptures are also of the Flyboy soaring through the air with a basketball.

Brantley said Chicagoan and former NBA player Juwan Howard is one of the biggest art collectors in sports. At Howard's request, Brantley wound up doing a suite of paintings for the Heat after their 2013 championship. Each player got their own one to celebrate the title.

"I got to explain each piece individually to the players, sat with them for a bit and talked to them about the symbolism in the pieces," he said. "It was really dope."

As for Chicago athletes, Brantley said he's sold some paintings to past and present Bears and Bulls, but didn't want to name any names. He could always use more local customers.

"A few Chicago athletes are just cheap, but I know I'll get them sooner or later," he said with a laugh. "They're buddies, so I'm not in a rush."

Aside from those anonymous cheap athletes, Bucks forward Jabari Parker reached out to Brantley on Instagram to say he's a fan of his work. Bears tight end Martellus Bennett is a fan, too. Brantley said he's become friends with Jimmy Butler through mutual acquaintances.

Back in 2011, Brantley did a limited edition T-shirt of Derrick Rose for clothing company Enstrumental and Rose's friends wore the shirts the night he got his MVP award.

I had to ask Brantley what he thinks about Rose's place in Chicago today.

"I think how he fits is yet to be determined because of those highs and lows," Brantley said. "Obviously when he first came on the scene and had everybody and their mother riding the Derrick Rose train. Then he got hurt and hurt again and people started to turn against him, things like that. I'm a fan and a believer and of his ability and his talent. But he is who he is. You have certain players who have that quiet side, that hyper-sense of focus that aren't media darlings necessarily. But he's not getting paid to be a media darling, he's getting paid to show out on that court. I think when he's out there, he gives it his all. For that he has my most utmost respect and my props."

Brantley is a big-time Bulls fan and has 100-level seats.

"You eat a few more ramen dinners when you sit in section 103," he said.

He missed the home opener, which pained him enough, but his wife wound up sitting not far from President Obama and taunted him with pictures.

"I had to be in New York," he said. "As a grown man, there are a few times where you have a defeatist attitude and just want to cry."

Don't feel too bad for Brantley. He was in New York to meet with a childhood hero, the rapper Q-Tip, for a project.

Meeting with Q-Tip and making Jordans in a studio filled with comic books. For a kid growing up in 1990s Chicago, Brantley is living some kind of dream.